You Never Change
by nuttycookie
Summary: Grumpy Haruka is grumpy. Nagisa should know better than to break his routine. Rei is learning how to bribe his sempai. Light MakoHaru, hinted ReiGisa. Alternate title: Makoto's shirt doubles as a security blanket.


Grumpy Haruka is grumpy. Nagisa should know better than to break his routine. Rei is learning how to bribe his sempai.

Alternate title: Makoto's shirt doubles as a security blanket. Rei notices _freaking everything_. (Or so he thinks…see the Extra. Heh.)

Warnings? Eh…fluffiness? Haru being a grouch in the morning? MakoHaru and heavily hinted ReiGisa—could be friendship, I guess, or friendSHIP. (Ooh, see what I did there?) Take your pick. Om nom nom.

Enjoy!

 **XxXxXxXxXxX**

" _Haru-chaaaaan!_ Open up already, we're going to be laaaaate!"

It was _far_ too early in the morning for Nagisa to be whining like that, a certain Ryugazaki Rei muttered to himself, let alone on a _weekend_. But there was his blonde companion, assaulting the apartment door of their former sempai and teammate as though his life depended on it.

After another long minute of banging and crying and "Nagisa-kun, _please_ , you'll wake the neighbors," the lock made a clattering noise and the door pealed open. Inside was the dark-haired swimmer the pair sought, clad in sweatpants and socks in matching shades of periwinkle, paired with a much-too-large orange shirt that didn't match. The edge of the collar drooped down one shoulder and the bottom hem reached his mid-thigh. His eyes were half-moons, heavily lidded, and he raised a fist to them, rubbing at sleep from their corners lazily.

"What?" Haruka grumbled, nearly unintelligible.

"Haru-chan, why aren't you ready yet?" Nagisa flailed his arms about, nearly whacking Rei in the face, who sputtered and clutched his glasses.

"…Ready for what?"

"The movie! Remember? We're meeting Mako-chan downtown after his test!"

Ah, poor Makoto-sempai. Only _he_ could end up with a Saturday morning class and somehow not complain about it. The brunette was simply thrilled that his friends were coming out to this part of Tokyo to visit at all, regardless of the damper his exam placed on what could have been an entire day together.

Rei didn't fail to notice the way Haruka-sempai's inky brows knitted together or how his eyes first glistened in growing mental clarity and then progressively narrowed to slits. The elder male made a funny _cluck_ with his tongue, as though he'd tasted a piece of overripe cantaloupe.

"Then why are _you_ here so early?"

Obviously, half of that remark was the sleepy grumpiness talking, Rei thought to himself; but of course, he didn't fail to notice that the point of the complaint wasn't so much the early hour, but the fact it was _them_ who had disturbed him. He reminded himself to not take things too personally, unlike Nagisa, who started blubbering beside him, grabbing at Haruka's hands and making justifications about the long train ride and having breakfast together somewhere. No, it wasn't that Haruka didn't want to see his friends or meant any harm in his offhanded remark; he was just probably expecting someone else to come get him.

Did things _ever_ change when it came to their sempai?

Nagisa wasn't having any of this, and so when his whines and watery-eyed glances did nothing to sway their friend, he leapt into action and darted toward Haruka. The poor boy had only enough time to blink the seas of his eyes wide in confusion as Nagisa abruptly pulled the oversized shirt off him. He started shoving his sempai back into the apartment, bouncing on his tiptoes and telling him to change so they could go get breakfast.

But Haruka wouldn't budge.

Rei didn't fail to notice the downright _murderous_ look that shadowed Haruka's expression. He looked quite like a cat prepared to hiss and swipe claws at an unwelcome pest. His shoulders had tensed and his breath caught audibly, and Rei knew it had nothing to do with the sudden chill of the air on his bare chest.

"Give me my shirt back."

"Haru-chan…"

"Nagisa…"

"Haru- _chaaan_ …"

Haruka only glared, eyes as hard as flint and jaw set in an unusually firm line.

"Only if you go get ready so we can _leave_ already!" Nagisa made a move to clutch the shirt to his chest, making a show of hanging on to it. If he was trying to threaten his sempai into submission…maybe it was working. Rei could practically _hear_ the gears cranking and grinding in the dark-haired male's head. Unless that was his teeth, in which case…

Maybe it _wasn't_ working.

With a huff through his nose as the only forewarning, Haruka's hand darted forward so fast that Rei wondered if he'd even really _seen_ the motion at all. Haruka had yanked the shirt back and slipped it back on—backwards, Rei noticed, in his haste—and then promptly crossed his arms over his chest. Haruka was probably intending to look menacing, but he really just looked like a pouting middle-schooler.

Until Rei noticed how the swimmer's fingertips were rubbing and pinching at the fabric.

Rei chuckled, quickly covering it up at Nagisa's befuddled prompting by asking Haruka to get ready so that they could get going sooner. In his most polite tone, of course. "Knowing Makoto-sempai, he'll probably finish his exam early," he added softly, trying to tear his eyes away from Haruka's continued fidgeting. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as a distraction.

Haruka's eyes, which hadn't been looking at either of them for the past two minutes, suddenly focused and pointedly looked down at that, humming ascent and returning inside the apartment. He uncrossed his arms in defeat, shaking his head a little to toss the bangs from his forehead, but continued to finger the hem of the shirt with his left hand. Discretely. Rei noticed, of course, and filed that sight away for later use as he followed his blonde companion in. He shut the door with a soft _click_ and Haruka-sempai disappeared into the bathroom.

" _So_ _beautiful_." The words were a hushed murmur in the stuffy air of the apartment: reverent, like a prayer. Rei pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose and put a hand to his chest, trying and failing to tame the grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Eh?" Nagisa poked him in the side, looking up with wide eyes like pinkish camellias and a highly unnecessary flutter of his lashes. "What's beautiful?"

"Haruka-sempai, of course."

"Hmm? Oh…well, Haru-chan _is_ in even better shape than when he was in high school with us…"

"That's not what I'm talking about."

Nagisa blinked.

A sigh. "His shirt."

A pause. "His…shirt?"

"Hai."

"…His _shirt_?"

" _Hai_ , his _shirt_!"

"I don't get it." Nagisa puffed out his cheeks and leaned forward, putting his chin on Rei's broad chest as the taller male leaned back against the kitchen countertop. "It doesn't match the rest of his pajamas. And you don't even _like_ the color orange. And…and it's too big on him! So why is it beautiful?" He poked Rei's nose. "You're not making any sense, Rei-chan."

"Yes, I am, and get off of me, already." Rei took off his glasses and proceeded to wipe off the cloud of fog from Nagisa's breath that had gathered on the lenses with the hem of his shirt—which was, admittedly, a _much_ more stylish choice than Haruka-sempai's sleepwear. "That wasn't the point, Nagisa-kun."

"Eh? Then what is it?" The shorter boy drawled out, stepping back to lean into his heels. He scratched at his neck, making little shrugging motions along the way.

"…That wasn't Haruka-sempai's shirt."

Nagisa blinked before looking away with a shrug. "I _still_ don't get it," he whined, dropping both arms to his sides with a soft _whump_. "You're weird, Rei-chan."

 _It's beautiful because it's Makoto-sempai's shirt._ Rei had to stifle the laugh itching away at his diaphragm. "Never mind, it's not important anyway. At least he's actually getting himself ready to go; we might actually make it downtown in time for breakfast at that bird-themed café."

The little blonde was too easily distracted by that, instantly beaming. He returned to the raven-headed male's side in a step and a half. "Ne, ne, Rei-chan," Nagisa probed, prodding at Rei's ribs with a pointed finger, "how did you _do_ that?"

"Stop that, Nagisa-kun." He swatted the shorter male's hand away before any bruises could form and gave a light huff. "And do _what_? I simply told Haruka-sempai the truth, and it happened to be what he wanted to hear." He puffed his chest out a little, glasses flashing to obscure the glint in his eye.

Nagisa pondered for a moment; it was the quietest he'd been all morning—Rei would know, having both taken the train with him _and_ listened to him chatter for an hour beforehand over the phone as they got ready themselves. "Ah, Haru-chan hasn't changed much since graduation then, ne?" He giggled, tilting his head to bump Rei's shoulder, which twitched. "It must be hard, not living right next door to Mako-chan anymore." He paused again, listening—the apartment was quiet, except for the sound of water in the pipes, which had been heard a little too long for one of Haruka's typical showers. Nagisa suddenly frowned and pattered toward the bathroom.

"Nagisa-kun, that's not polite; you should just be patient and let Haruka-sempai get ready."

Nagisa must not have heard, or not been _listening_ at least, for he was already rapping on the door, practically laying his entire body against it. "Haru-chan, what's taking so long?" There was no reply other than the running water, and the blond lowered his brows and pressed his lips together. He opened the door abruptly, and it squeaked in protest. "Ne, Haru-chan, what are—EEEHH!?"

Rei jolted a little at that, turning but stopping himself—it wouldn't be polite to go traipsing through the apartment with his shoes still on, after all. It also wouldn't be polite to find his sempai and former teammate in a state of undress.

"Haru-chan, we don't have _time_ for you to take a _bath_!" Nagisa wailed. Rei felt himself stumbling, though he hadn't taken a single step. "Come on, we need to—UWAAH! Why are you wearing your jammers!?" Nagisa was full-on blubbering incoherently now, and Rei was glad he hadn't followed for the sake of his delicate eardrums.

Rei could almost picture Haruka-sempai's face, and he laughed behind his hand.

A buzzing noise from the kitchen counter drew Rei's attention to Haru's phone, which lay haphazardly next to an empty glass and a pile pineapple cans. The screen lit up with a text, and as impolite as it probably would be to read it, Rei couldn't help but notice who it was from.

 _UWAH! I'm so nervous! Wish me luck, Haru! Oh, and don't give Rei and Nagisa any trouble; they should be there to pick you up soon. I'll meet you guys at the theater._

There was a stream of emoticons at the end. Just as Rei felt his face begin to flush, a second message came in:

 _Oh and no, I don't think you'll have time for a bath._

And a third:

 _Oh and by the way, have you seen my orange shirt?_

And a fourth:

 _The professor's here. See you soon, Haru-chan!_

There was a much shorter stream of emoticons there, but Rei was blushing a much deeper red from them. The screen went black again, and he found himself chuckling to himself, half-nervous and half-amused.

It was probably high time to calm Nagisa down before the neighbor's complained of the racket.

 **A/N:** Somehow I ended up getting into _Free! recently_. Not entirely sure how that happened…I've fallen for these stupid dorks, filling up Olympic-sized swimming pools with their tears and emotional baggage… I regret nothing.

As a result, I have penned _waaaaay_ too much fluff lately. This is one of the slightly less gushy drabbles. But seeing as you've read this far, in case you want some extra squishy-cuteness, I present an EXTRA.

 **xXx EXTRA! xXx**

Ah, Rei had noticed a lot of things that morning, and well into the afternoon: for one, Haruka-sempai stole glances at everything from clocks (as though he thought time was passing too slowly) to his cellphone (the tiny hint of a smirk that passed when he first saw Makoto's texts was priceless) to windows (always glancing westward, toward a certain university). Rei was starting to feel a little…bad. But mostly, he just felt brilliant.

Haruka-sempai was perfectly content to spend time with him and Nagisa, running around downtown and finding particular interest in the murals of art and vintage birdcages at the café they visited for breakfast (more like brunch by the time the three of them finally found it, but Nagisa didn't care).

But Haruka-sempai was… _nervous_. Like he couldn't quite settle down, and not just with all the glances and looking around. He wasn't exactly _spacing out_ like he usually would—if anything, he was a little _too_ focused. Rei noticed how often he blinked, how tense his shoulders were held, how quick his steps were, how his hands would sometimes ball into fists before being shoved hastily into the pockets of his chinos.

But what Rei _didn't_ notice was the look that crossed Haruka's face when he heard the heavy _thud_ of footsteps rushing through lobby of the movie theater, or how quickly Haruka whirled around when a familiar tenor voice squeaked out polite 'Excuse me's while bumping into a rowdy family of four. No, Rei was preoccupied with Nagisa, who was preoccupied with finagling his way into getting Rei to buy him every variety of snack food (and every other kind of soda, in the same cup).

So Rei didn't notice the relief washing over Haruka's frame like a wave, how the shorter male's joints seemed to turn to jelly for a moment as the tension rushed out. Or the resulting stumble in his steps, barely perceivable, as he darted toward the broad frame of his best friend. Rei didn't see Haruka sinking, boneless, into Makoto's embrace, didn't hear Makoto laughing and Haruka joining in softly a heavy breath and half later. He didn't catch the way their noses rubbed and their foreheads bumped together or the moment they took to ground themselves, not caring who walked by or watched.

But _Nagisa_ had noticed when Makoto had _finally_ arrived, and figured—with a little secret wink to no one in particular—that the pair would appreciate some privacy—at least for another few seconds as he fought with Rei about wanting both chocolate _and_ popcorn.


End file.
